Pokemon Go’s Thanksgiving Event Is Perfect For Walking Off Dinner

Pokémon Go is holding a Thanksgiving event that should appeal to all of us – at least it may help us walk off our dinners and leftovers! It started yesterday and continues through the 30th; during this time all Stardust and XP gains are doubled.

Holiday events are a relatively new thing for Pokémon Go. Since the game launched in July, this is only the second time the company has offered a large-scale holiday event. The first, a week-long Halloween feast of Pokémon, was much more dramatic. All rare candy bonuses from turning in Pokémon were doubled, ghots types seemed to spawn every ten feet, and we got four times the normal bonuses for walking our buddies around.

The Halloween event did very well for Niantic. In-game purchases more than doubled, and the game (which had been stagnating) received a much-needed boost. It was fun again for the first time since the company annoyed even its most faithful players by gutting the step-based Pokémon tracking icons in favor of a weird “sightings” system that I still don’t find useful.

The Thanksgiving event is a little more relaxed. Doubling the Stardust and XP is a pretty strong incentive to walk even if there aren’t more Pokémon to catch. It isn’t the only thing going on right now, though – Ditto, a shape-changing Pokémon, has been added to the game. You won’t see it hanging around: it’s only catchable by hunting common critters and hoping to see them transform into Ditto upon capture. As far as we know Ditto is only able to become Zubat, Pidgey, Rattata, Magicarp, and Spearow. (If you find it camouflaged as another Pokemon, let us know!)

Make the most of this event by keeping up your Capture and Pokéstop streaks, which are also doubled. If you’ve got a Lucky Egg, burn it now to get a 4x multiplier to all experience gains.

How are these Pokémon Go holidays working out for you? Have you found Ditto yet? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Author: Khai

Khai is a writer, anthropologist, and game enthusiast. She can talk fandom in five languages, and her proudest nerd moment so far was presenting original research titled “Gender, Sex, and Werewolves” at an international anthropological conference. Her first game, None For Me, is due out from Calico Games early next year.